A strange
thing happened at the Bruins’ game last night.
In the middle of the game, the fire alarm went off. The funny part was that no one moved. Everyone just sat in their seats or continued
to wait in line at the concession. In fact,
the game continued for several minutes until the referees finally halted play
until the staff at the rink shut the alarm off again. Overall, it was sort of odd.
Now compare
that reaction to the one at the fire hall.
As soon as a call comes in, firefighters spring into action, right? They slide down a pole so as to not waste
precious seconds on the stairs. Their
trucks are packed and ready to roll.
They never have to call back and say, “We will be right there. We just have to go fill the truck up with gas
first”. Firefighters never look outside
and say, “You know, we just waxed the truck and the street looks really slushy
and dirty. Maybe we can go to the fire
after everything dries up”. When a call
comes in, firefighters get to the scene as quickly as possible. Delays and excuses are unacceptable.
Last week I was reading about a man named
Barak. In Judges 4, he is told, “The
Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men… to
Mount Tabor’” (Verse 6). There he was to
fight against God’s enemies and protect the people.
Instead of
going, though, Barak refuses. He does
not take God at his word and he does not listen to the command. Eventually, he agrees to go, but only if
Deborah the prophetess goes with him (verse 8).
In the end, God gives his people the victory that he promised, but Barak
forfeits the blessing that he should have received. Instead of being the hero, the honour went to
a woman named Jael (verse 9).
All of this
has me thinking that our response to God is important. I believe that God calls us into his service
in many situations and in various ways. If
that is true, the key question is not, “What is God asking you to do?” but,
“How are you responding?” Are you ready
to go, or are you waiting? Are you filled
with confidence or excuses? Are you ignoring the alarm, or are you jumping to
action?
We cannot
earn our salvation, but our response to the call of God is important. Ultimately,
our response will determine whether we hear, “Well done, good and faithful
servant” (Matthew 25:21) or not.
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